Weekend in The Hospital - Don't Freak Out

Okay, I’ll tell you the end of the story first so you don’t freak out. Everything’s okay! Dad has been having some intestinal problems (I won’t go into detail on this one, TMI) and the long and short of it is that he wound up in the E.R. Thursday night with a stomach that looked pregnant (not full term mind you, just second trimester pregnant). His digestive systems decided to go on vacation after we abused it in Hawaii and just shut down. Needless to say, he was having severe abdominal pain. The x-rays didn’t show much and he was scheduled for a CT scan the next day, so they gave him a shot of morphine, an enema, a pat on the head and the bill and sent him home. He went in the next morning for the CT and it showed that the peritoneum had thickened and that fluid was building up between the peritoneum and the stomach. This means the fluid was not crossing the normally porous peritoneum into the intestines. There are several causes of the symptoms Dad is experiencing (severe abdominal pain, distended abdomen, fluid build-up behind peritoneum, elevated white count, constipation, etc). When we began radiation, the doctor told us pancreatitis and/or other organ revolts were possibilities. They were using extreme treatments and they were combining radiation with a chemo that would intensify the effects of the radiation. The target of this treatment is generally not happy with this approach. Mad pancreas = pancreatitis and all the symptoms Dad is experiencing. The doctor just told us that his pancreatic enzymes were not elevated, but in fact low. That rules out pancreatitis. But other organs such as the peritoneum, intestines, stomach could be protesting resulting in problems. We just don't know. Another possibility is infection. Our friends Rusty and Gina have experienced exactly this with Rusty's mom. Joanna has pancreatic cancer and had the same symptoms Dad is experiencing during her treatment. Thedoctors had only gloom and doom prognoses to tell. Since she has pancreatic cancer, it must be that the cancer has spread! Noooooo. There was a pocket of infected fluid in one of her lungs. The final possibility (and my personal least favorite) is that the cancer has spread to the peritoneum and spread over the surface of it, encasing it, preventing the fluid to pass to the intestines. We don’t like this possibility, so we’ll just ignore this one.

Please continue to lift up Mom and Dad during yet another time of waiting and not knowing. Dad will remain in the hospital for observation until the procedure is performed on Monday. We shouldl have the ultrasound and blood culture results (testing for some infections) on Monday. He is still in pain and nauseated (maybe he is pregnant). They are doing an endoscopic ultrasound on Monday to take a visual look at the peritoneum, stomach, intestines, etc. This will tell us a lot about what’s going on, so we will update you as soon as we know. As always, continue to lift Dad up in prayer. Our eyes are firmly fixed on God’s promises. God spoke pretty clearly to us at the outset that He wasn’t going to calm the storm, but He would take us through it and over it as we leaned in to Him and His strength. Time to lean in with all we’re worth!

NEW SURGERY DATE AUGUST 21

Okay, lots of information today. We met with Dr. Pearl, the vascular surgeon who will be in on Dad's surgery. He's responsible for removing the vein that is involved in the pancreatic cancer. He was so positive and encouraging about Dad's prognosis for a positive outcome. He will remove the cancerous portion of the vein and then will either attach the two ends or graft a portion of his jugular vein if needed. He did a physical exam and dad's stomach is soft (this is the only time that is actually a good statement) and lump-free. This is a huge relief since his abdominal pain was really worrying us.

We just received a phone call from Dr. Nemunaitis about 15 minutes ago. They got the FDA approval for their production lab to begin making the vaccine yesterday (praise God)! This is a HUGE deal. The FDA is the master of their own universe and set their own timetable. Mary Crowley has been working 24/7 to get this approval. So now they can officially make the vaccine. The downside to this is they will not be able to produce it until August 21st at the earliest. The tissue for the vaccine has to be fresh and cannot be frozen. Therefore, Dad's date for surgery has been postponed until August 21. Needless to say, we are quite disappointed about this development. But Dr. Nemunaitis made it quite clear we could still have the surgery on August 10, we just couldn't have the vaccine if we did. Duh! Kind of a no-brainer. August 21st it is. We also went over Dad's recent stomach pain and other symptoms that have cropped up over the past three weeks. He reassured Dad that this is entirely consistent with the effects of the radiation. It causes inflammation of the stomach and intestines. He reiterated that the treatments Dad has undergone over the past few months are quite extreme and his lack of side effects is remarkable. To be experiencing some now is of little concern unless their is a dramatic escalation in pain or changes in his body.

So, in spite of our diappointment over the delay, all the reports are encouraging and the surgery is a go. Stay tuned just in case there are any unforeseen delays or postponements.

Portland and Hawaii were awesome! The time with the family was sweet and it was a blessed respite before getting on the medical madness train. Here are a few pictures of our time away.

Amazing sunset in Portland. Rivals anything seen in Hawaii. This one lasted almost 45 min. Pictures show Mom and Dad, DeeDee and Robert, Hector and Caleb, Tracy and Cari, Kristin and Lindsey.


Eating our way through Maui. First at the Gazeebo, then at Momma's with Lyle and Lydia and the Fam. What's not shown is Bubba Gump's, Maui Taco, Penne Pasta, Plantation House, Kimo's, BJ's, Maui Taco again, the Gazeebo again. The doctor told us to fatten Dad up, and we took that advice verrrry seriously (burp!). Pass the Pepcid AC please.


The girls (sans DeeDee who was wiped out in the room) at the Ali'i the first night, (and the boys, of course). The house at Puamana was trashed, so they put us up at the Ali'i for a night while they cleaned our place. A fortunate coincidence that Lyle and Lydia were staying there.

The final sunset of the trip: fat, tanned and happy!